Columbia-area doctor pleads guilty in federal drug case, lawyers agree to 5-year sentence

A 60-year-old Columbia area doctor pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to illegally distributing various prescription drugs, including oxycodone, adderall, Xanax and hydrocodone.

Dr. James Oscar Williams, a family medicine doctor who practices in West Columbia, will be sentenced at a later date, said Judge Joe Anderson.

Federal prosecutors and attorneys for Williams have agreed on a five-year prison sentence for the doctor, who has no prior criminal record, according to public records. Anderson said he may or may not abide by that agreement in sentencing.

Williams was indicted on charges of 51 illegal drug transactions involving prescription drugs in 2018 and 2019.

In a plea deal, prosecutors allowed him to plead guilty to two counts of drug trafficking in exchange for his guilty plea and the agreed-upon five year prison sentence.

Williams was in court Monday with his two defense lawyers, Johnny Gasser and Gregory Harris, both of Columbia.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike O’Mara prosecuted the case. Jamey Jones, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who worked the case, also was in the courtroom.

O’Mara said the state Department of Labor and Licensing, which has a board overseeing doctors’ discipline, will make the decision on what action to take with respect to Williams’ license.

At Monday’s hearing, no mention was made of the motive Williams had in distributing quantities of prescription drugs.

However, O’Mara said that Hawthorne Pharmacy in Columbia became concerned about the quantities of drugs that Williams was writing prescriptions for and began to refuse to do business with him. Williams then turned to a hospital pharmacy run of Prisma. When Prisma began to have reservations about the quantities of drugs Williams was writing prescriptions for, the hospital pharmacy stopped allowing him to buy there.

More information will be released at the as-yet unscheduled sentencing hearing.